


Aconitum Lycoctonum

by RaccoonDoom



Series: The Merciless Moon Outside [1]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Monster Hunters, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Monster Hunter Gabriel, Werewolf Jesse McCree, Wolfsbane Poisoning, Young Jesse McCree, graphic description of shapeshifting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-28
Updated: 2016-11-28
Packaged: 2018-09-02 18:27:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8678518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RaccoonDoom/pseuds/RaccoonDoom
Summary: "If he isn't dead already, then it's not going to kill him," Ana said, and Gabriel sighed with relief. Before he could speak, she added, "He is going to be pretty damn miserable for the next little while, though, so I suggest you don't get too comfortable."





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is part of a series I've been wanting to write for a while now! I'll be posting the stories in the order I finish them and then organizing them chronologically, if that makes sense? Sorry for any inconvenience ;o This would take place... about 1/3rd of the way through what I have planned? It's unbeta'd but if anyone would be interested.... yo... hmu @kiwisoap on tumblr (prompts are welcome, too!!). Also the second chapter is only half-written so if you wanna drop me any suggestions please feel free!!
> 
> Anyway, the long and short of it is: Monster hunter AU, Overwatch is a network of monster hunters across the globe, Jesse is a werewolf and monster hunter (which I'll try to explain in the next thing I write jesus I'm too disorganized for this shit), Gabe is essentially his mentor. Jack, Ana, Angela, Fareeha, and later Genji should all appear in the series at some point, too.

The hunt had gone off without a hitch. The local killer vampire was nothing more than a pile of smoldering ash in the forest. Gabe expected Jesse to still be riding high on the success of the kill, but he was uncharacteristically subdued on the way back to town. His head was leaned against the window of the truck, eyes occasionally drifting shut. 

“You feeling okay, cowboy?” he asked. Jesse glanced at him in surprise, then sighed and sat up straight.

“I’m kinda tired,” he admitted, taking his hat off to rake a hand through his hair, revealing a nasty-looking gash near his hairline. “I guess that whole chase took more out of me than I thought. I’m not healing as fast as usual, either." He pulled his shirt up with a wince to show the angry red oval of a gunshot wound resting just above his hip. “I probably just lost more blood than I realized,” he said dismissively. "Damn vamps always fuck me over."

Gabe frowned but didn’t argue; the kid generally knew what he could handle. Still, somethung didnt feel right, he just couldn't put a finger on _what_.

Jesse spent most of the half-hour ride to the motel dozing; the sun was setting by the time they arrived. He was still quiet and groggy as they shouldered their gear—disguised as hiking equipment, like always—and started up the stairs. Gabe began to worry in earnest, though he tried to keep it off his face. He’d seen him recover from far worse injuries in half that time. Gabe noticed his hands were shaking.

“McCree.” Gabe stopped as they reached the stairwell. It took Jesse a beat longer than usual to respond. When he looked up expectantly, his face was pale and sheened with sweat; the cut across his temple _still_ looked fresh. “Do you feel okay?” 

Jesse furrowed his eyebrows and looked away, locking his eyes on the ugly beige paint of the staircase as they began to climb. “I dunno. I feel weird, you know? Like I’m getting sick, ‘cept I don’t get sick anymore. Or, I ain’t supposed to, at least.” He was flexing his hands absently. “I feel… really warm. My mouth is kinda tingly, too.” 

_That_ couldn’t be good.

"Did you eat something weird?" Gabe asked. Jesse shook his head. "Just breakfast and a couple of Clif bars." "What about that bullet, did it feel like it was silver?" "Hell no," Jesse scoffed. "Felt like a bee sting is all." Gabe was so distracted trying to come up with a possible cause that it took him a few seconds to notice that Jesse’s footsteps were no longer matching his. When he turned around, the kid was halfway down the steps behind him, bracing himself against the wall. His eyes seemed distant.

“You still with me?” Gabe asked. 

“Yeah, I think somethin’... something’s wrong,” Jesse finally replied—good to know he figured that one out. “Something's definitely wrong, I got really dizzy just then.” As he resumed climbing, he flexed his still-shaking hands, but his fingertips looked unnaturally dark. When he was close enough, Gabriel grabbed his wrist to get a closer look, suddenly anxious; the beginnings of thick claws were forming from his fingernails. When Jesse looked at Gabe, panicked, his eyes were yellow.

“McCree,” Gabe began tensely, tightening his grip.

“It’s not— I can't be shifting, it’s just a half moon,” Jesse said. “I’m not doing it on purpose, I—” he broke off with a wince, his teeth too large and sharp in his mouth as he grimaced and pulled his hand back (and _god_ Gabe could _feel_ the tendons shift). “I don’t know why it’s happening, I swear, but it ain't me.” His breath was coming in shallow pants. Gabe heard a _crack_ as his shoulder blades suddenly changed position, and Jesse clenched his jaw against a cry of pain.

Gabriel was acutely aware of the fact that they were in an open stairwell of an occupied motel, visible to anyone who happened to be passing by. They needed to get inside before Jesse got any less human-looking, or they’d have a whole ‘nother mess of problems to deal with. 

"C’mon,” he said, wrapping an arm around McCree to support him up the last few stairs. "Keep it together until we're inside." He left him to stumble along behind him when they reached the top so he could search his pockets for the key card. He was almost ready to resort to breaking the door when Jesse produced it out of his vest pocket with clumsy, wrong-jointed hands; he nearly dropped it twice in his fumbling before Gabriel snatched it away, swiped it, and shoved him inside.

Gabe shut and deadbolted the door behind them, double checking the lock before turning back to McCree. He expected him to already be half-changed; shifts were usually quick affairs with only a small window of vulnerability, a minute at the longest.

Whatever had caused it, Jesse’s shift was going agonizingly slowly, like he was fighting tooth and nail against the change. He had a fist between his teeth to keep quiet, and Gabe could see his bones and muscles sickeningly rearranging themselves under his skin. His leg buckled as his kneecap changed position; Gabe grabbed him without thinking, and Jesse thrashed, panicked, out of his grip. Without the support, he dropped to the floor in a gangly mess of twisting limbs and displaced gear.

"This sure is a goddamn bitch of an unsatisfactory situation," Jesse hissed, the syllables lilting strangely as he tried not to cry out in pain. Gabe didn't smile, but a bit tension sagged out of his shoulders as he tossed both of their packs into the corner to keep them out of the way.

"It can't be too bad if you can still quote shitty cowboy movies at me," he replied, pulling him upright into a sitting position against the wall.

Jesse opened his mouth again, looking indignant—probably to defend the quality of his cinematic preferences—but snapped his jaws shut with a high-pitched whine as his ribcage changed shape.

"Fuckin' _hurts_ ," he gritted out, the last word turning into a low whimper. “It doesn’t feel right, it doesn't feel like—like a normal shift.”

Gabe couldn't do anything but stand there uselessly as heaving spasms wracked his still-too-skinny body, shifting his bones out of place. After just a few minutes, it was too much to watch without trying to help somehow. 

"I'm gonna call around and see if anyone knows what this is," he said. Even though it felt cruel to leave him there, Gabe stepped to the side and dialed Ana, desperately hoping she'd pick up; it was well past 1 am in Cairo, and he couldn't remember if she was stateside or not.

It rang three times before he was answered with "What happened this time?"

"No faith, huh?" he shot back, unable to resist the bait.

"You're calling me out of the blue because everything is going perfect? Please." Gabe could imagine the unimpressed stare she must be giving him.

"...No. Something's wrong with Jesse and I don't know what," he admitted. "He's shifting even though it's just the half-moon, and it's going way too slowly. He's...in a lot of pain."

" _What?_ He's _shifting?_ That's—" Gabe heard her take a deep breath, then utter a string of curses in Arabic too quickly for him to understand. "I know exactly what happened to him. He was poisoned with wolfsbane, it's the only thing that could do this."

Gabe's blood ran cold. He never used wolfsbane—silver bullets were much quicker and simpler—but he knew what it could do. High doses brought death in minutes. He wracked his brain for when it could have happened, and his thoughts drew back to the cut on his head that stubbornly refused to heal—that vampire had a knife, it must have been poisoned-

"Will he be okay?" he asked, his heart thudding in his chest.

"If he isn't dead already, then it's not going to kill him," Ana said, and Gabriel sighed with relief. Before he could speak, she added, "He _is_ going to be pretty damn miserable for the next little while, though, so I suggest you don't get too comfortable. What makes wolfsbane such a bitch is that even if it doesn't kill them, it weakens them enough that someone else can. My only advice is to keep him cool and hydrated. I don't know how long it will last, though, I've only seen it twice and I wasn't inclined to let them recover before I did my job."

Gabe still had a hundred questions he wanted to ask, but Ana made it clear that she didn't know much more about it than he did. "Thanks, Ana," he said instead.

"Take care of that boy, Gabriel, or Fareeha will have your head. Call if you need anything else." She hung up without saying goodbye, as always.

Gabriel turned back to where Jesse was sitting on the floor, stuck shaking in some awful halfway-form. He had shoved his bandana between his teeth like a gag, but it wasn't quite enough to muffle the small sounds of pain he was making. Gabe would resurrect that fucking vampire just to kill it more slowly if he could, but it was already dead, so he put aside his righteous anger for the time being and knelt down next to him.

"You got poisoned, but Amari said you'll live," he offered, not even sure how lucid Jesse still was. His eyes were unfocused and distant, but he tilted his head toward Gabe's voice. "Hey, you'll be alright, _vaquero_." Flimsy comfort at best. This close, he could feel how much heat was radiating off Jesse's body; he was practically a furnace. Ana said to keep him cool. 

Gabriel took a deep breath and rolled up his sleeves—cold shower, then. This should be an experience.

"Don't hate me for this, kid," he muttered.


End file.
